


Worst Case Scenario

by chivalrousAmour



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chad - Freeform, Gen, Imagining a reveal, no literally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 14:14:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12749946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chivalrousAmour/pseuds/chivalrousAmour
Summary: It was a simple question.The answer should not have taken ten minutes and Ladybug cycling through several pained grimaces.(Chat Noir asks why they can't reveal themselves.)





	Worst Case Scenario

It was a simple question.

_'Why can't we reveal our identities to each other?'_

Ladybug had a couple simple answers prepared. It was dangerous, she could say. Too risky, since we might tell other people, she might add. We could end up brainwashed and go after each other or our friends and families, she would go on, missing her partner's look of guilt. We just can't do it, she would conclude with a small frown.

But, to be honest, she didn't really think that. Ladybug believed, really and truly believed that they could handle anything together, from akumas to attacks to the stresses of being a modern-day superhero. No, the reason why she couldn't bear the thought of a reveal was because, well. Marinette was Ladybug. Marinette also had an active imagination. And a propensity towards the overzealous fabrication of unlikely and sometimes frankly impossible scenarios combined with warnings not to reveal her identity from her deity of a companion and mentor became a tendency to think of the worst case scenario.

See, Marinette already had a mental image of Chat Noir she thought up after several akuma attacks. He was a joker. Loved puns, emitted confidence and mischievousness like the sun radiated heat, and was a total dork. A goofball, even. He probably had a name like... Nicholas. Or Chad. She was leaning towards Chad. And she could imagine Chat- Chad, messy hair lazily hidden under a hat (probably Chat Noir-themed too, the egoist), black hoodie over cargo pants and red sneakers, with perfect clarity. She even had the way he walked down too. A bit of a slouch, hands always in his pockets unless he was doing something or talking. Marinette always pegged him as the kind of guy who made grandiose gestures with his words, always needing to stay in motion.

So yeah, Marinette knew her partner well enough to say she had a fairly good idea of what he would act like, even out of costume. And she imagined telling this guy her identity. And she could absolutely see this goofball strolling into her classroom one morning, dropping to one knee in front of her and going, "Purrdon me, Meowrinette! I just couldn't resist the clawrious idea of dropping by fur my purrincess!"

Everyone would be staring. Chad wouldn't care. Chad would lean closer and whisper to her, "This place is pretty classy, huh?"

Her imagination version of herself groaned so hard, she let out a groan in real life, too.

(Chat Noir, who had been watching Ladybug's wince become a frown that deepened to the point that she seemed to be straining her neck muscles for the past three minutes, was steadily growing more and more worried, even before the pained groan.)

And then, like normal, curious people, people would ask, "Hey Marinette! Who is this crazy guy and why is he in the class?"

And then, like a pun-slinging dork with a penchant for embarrassing her, Chad would answer, "Well, I'm the guy she's going to meowrry!"

(Ladybug let out a whimper. Ladybug never whimpered, not even when she was being thrown into walls or dodging cars, how could her own imagination frighten her more than any monster they ever faced-)

Alya screamed. Marinette slammed her forehead into her desk. Chloé was laughing at her. And worst of all, Adrien was looking at the scene with an expression of mild confusion! He would think she was so weird for having such weird friends and also if her crush took it seriously-

Her crush.

oh god she almost forgot about that

Marinette's mind immediately jumped down the nearest million-meter cliff and did a cannonball into impossible-territory. Some small, immeasurably tiny part of her mind knew it wouldn't happen, knew that not even Chad was that reckless and stupid, knew that Chad was silly and goofy and had a heart made of gold. He would never even dream of hurting a normal person, unless said normal person was being possessed by a not-so-normal butterfly and needed percussive therapy to return to normal, which probably disqualified them from being a normal person. But, that small, immeasurably tiny part of her mind was overwhelmed by the vast majority of her mind, which liked to forget rationality and probability in favour of coming up with convoluted scenarios that would never happen.

(Ladybug's eyebrows were drawn so tightly together that Chat worried she would wrinkle her mask, her nose scrunched up and a grimace that put her teeth on display were added in to make the most interesting mix of horror, shock, and annoyance he'd ever seen.)

The convoluted scenario she imagined started with Chad transforming into Chat and challenging Adrien to a duel. Adrien would take his fencing sword stab foil thingie and defend himself of course.

(Marinette knew that Adrien, dear, sweet, kind, compassionate, accepting, loving Adrien would never bring his sword thing to class, because he would never ever bring it somewhere he could risk dropping it and hurting someone, but she also didn't like the idea of Chad chasing her crush with a metal stick until he could grab the sword thing, so Marinette compromised and made the sword stab thing appear out of nowhere.)

And then it would be a dramatic fight with lots of flashing and slashing and bashing, but on one side was the embodiment of human perfection. On the other side was a human with superhuman reflexes, superhuman strength, a suit that made him nigh-invulnerable, and, y'know, magic. So, as sad as the truth was, Adrien would totally lose that fight.

(...why was Ladybug suddenly looking slightly proud?)

Which would lead to Marinette having to drag the cat away. He would scream for mercy from his lady and apologize. In a room full of people who had been in proximity to the both of them long enough to know that there was only one person Chat Noir ever called 'my lady'.

Alya screamed. Again. Or maybe that was her.

Anyways she immediately threw the cat out of her classroom. And her mind jumped to the inevitable conclusion, skipping all the scenes of her class recovering from the chaos.

Adrien asked to meet her after class, because he was a gentleman and he wouldn't want to embarrass her further since he was perfect like that-

And he would apologize, because he had no idea that he was somehow interfering with Ladybug and Chat Noir's relationship. He would then promise out of the kindness of his heart to never even think of her in a romantic light ever in hopes that it would be enough to repent for sins his good, pure, immaculate heart was not even capable of committing and leave before Marinette could attempt to explain.

Marinette would weep for the loss of her love and end up alone forever and surrounded by cats. Pun-making cats.

(Ladybug's face turned pale. He was not aware faces could be that pale. Wasn't that a sign of bad blood flow or something my lady please tell me you're okay you've been staring into space and making weird faces for about ten minutes how many fingers am I holding up-)

"Two," Ladybug said finally, her eyes finally focusing on Chat and the peace sign he was waving in front of her face. "I'm sorry, it's just-" She choked back a sob, and before Chat could apologize for the upsetting question, she simply said, "We can't reveal ourselves. The risks are too great."


End file.
